| Fairford | |
|---|---|
 River Coln, Fairford | |
  Fairford Location withinGloucestershire | |
| Population | 3,236 (2011 census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP149010 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Fairford |
| Postcode district | GL7 |
| Dialling code | 01285 |
| Police | Gloucestershire |
| Fire | Gloucestershire |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Welcome to Fairford Town Council |
| |
Fairford is amarket town inGloucestershire, England. The town lies in theCotswold hills on theRiver Coln, 6 miles (10 km) east ofCirencester, 4 miles (6 km) west ofLechlade and 9 miles (14 km) north ofSwindon. Nearby areRAF Fairford and theCotswold Water Park.
First attested asFagrandforda in 872 CE and asFareforde in theDomesday book. The components come from Old English fromfæger +ford meaning 'clear ford'.[2][3]
There was a major roundhouse settlement in Horcott (on the south side of the town),[4] and theWelsh Way, which passed through Fairford, was used during this period as a trade route.
Evidence of settlement in Fairford dates back to the 9th century, and it received a royal market grant in the 12th century.[5] An estate in Fairford, which seemingly belonged toGloucester Abbey, was bequeathed toBurgred of Mercia in the mid 9th century.[5] At the time of theNorman Conquest in 1066,Brictric, a large landowner in theWest Country, held a manor in Fairford.[5]Matilda of Flanders came to own the land, which became the property of the Crown.[5] In 1100,Robert Fitzhamon, the first Normanfeudal baron of Gloucester, is recorded as owning the land, which would be passed down to subsequent barons of Gloucester for the next 200 years,[5] along with themanor of Tewkesbury.
In 1066 there were three mills in the town, one of which was still used in thewool trade in the 13th century. The mill that survives today was built in the 17th century.[5]
Edward I andHenry VIII visited the town in 1276 and 1520 respectively.[5]
Fairford is recorded as having a prison in 1248.Hundred courts were held by the lord of the manor and borough.[5]
By the 15th century the land of Fairford was managed by wool merchantsJohn Twynyho andJohn Tame, afterGeorge Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence was forced to give up his lands after being tried for treason.[5]
In 1608, the inhabitants of Fairford were mostly agricultural labourers or artisans.[6]
Fairford Park, to the north of the town, was built by Andrew Barker in the 1660s and became part of the manor house grounds.[5][7] It was later turned into a deer park by James Lambe, with an obelisk built to mark the edge of the grounds.[5][8] The park remained in the Barker family until it was sold toErnest Cook in 1945.
In 1755, seven innkeepers were licensed in Fairford. The first record of an inn had been in 1419, and more inns appeared over the centuries owing to Fairford's location on routes between larger towns.Stagecoaches often called at Fairford on their way toGloucester, Cirencester,Bristol,Oxford orLondon.[5]
The first outbreak of the 1830–31Swing Riots in Gloucestershire was in Fairford on 26 November 1830.[9] Farming machinery which was being manufactured in the town was destroyed by protestors, who then joined forces with those from the surrounding villages ofQuenington,Hatherop,Coln andSouthrop.[5][9]
By this time there werepounds, in the town as well as avillage lock-up that had been around since at least 1809.[5]
RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 as a joint British and American base.[10]
From 1947 to 1959, Fairford housed 1,200Poles in The Displaced Persons Camp who had been displaced due to theSecond World War.[11] The site had originally been an American Air Force hospital that had been built during the war. The buildings were then repurposed for the camp, before being demolished in 1977.[5]
In March 2003 'Flowers to Fairford' was held as a protest against the use ofRAF Fairford as the base for the 14B-52 bombers aircraft which were used to bombIraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Several thousand people attended and there was a large police presence, but the event passed off peacefully.[12] A coach load of people intending to protest was stopped in Lechlade under Section 44 of theTerrorism Act 2000 and searched by police and sent back to London.[13][14] Ninety of the detained demonstrators formed Fairford Coach Action and sought legal recourse againstGloucestershire constabulary.[15] The group stated that:
"On 22 March 2003, the police used surprisingly extreme tactics to prevent more than 120 activists from reaching [the] legally sanctioned anti-war demonstration in Fairford, (Gloucestershire, UK). The demonstration outside a US Airforce Base in Fairford was well attended with estimates of up to 5,000 activists attending. Among the scheduled speakers on the day were writerGeorge Monbiot andCaroline Lucas (MEP). The people who police prevented from attending were a diverse group with a broad range of affiliations. The main thing that they had in common was the desire to travel from London by coach and the intention of joining the legal protest in Fairford. Two of the four main scheduled speakers for the Fairford demonstration were travelling on these coaches from London. After the coaches had travelled two and a half hours from London, the coaches were stopped by police just miles from the demonstration. Using section 60 powers (of the Public Order and Criminal Justice Act 1994) police searched the coaches for weapons for one and a half hours. The passengers cooperated with this search, and they were invited to reboard the coaches when the search concluded. No arrests were made and no items found. After all the passengers boarded, the coaches were escorted immediately back to London under a continuous 9–12 vehicle police escort."
In 2013, after appeal, Gloucestershire police's actions were found to be unlawful, and included breaching "protesters' rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly."[16] Some of the demonstrators involved were awarded upwards of £4,000 in compensation by a judge after taking their claim to court.[17]
In July 2007 Fairford sufferedunseasonably high rainfall which led to major flooding of 64 homes on Milton Street and London Street as well as in some other surrounding areas. This meant that many of the annual events had to be cancelled.[citation needed]
In 2013, a female skeleton was found in the River Coln and was later discovered to be ofSub-Saharan origin. The remains were estimated to be around 1000 years old (between 896 and 1025 CE) and it is thought that the woman was around 18-24 when she died.[18][19] Until this discovery, the earliest known Africans in Britain were from the 12th century.[18]
TheChurch of England parish church ofSaint Mary is renowned for its complete set ofmedievalstained glass, stone carvings andmisericords. Rebuilt in the early 1490s by the wool merchant John Tame (d.1500), the church is an example of latePerpendicular Gothic architecture that is characterised by slim stone window mullions and light but strongbuttresses. The style enabled larger windows than previously, allowing much more light into the building. Grade 1 listed by English Heritage, its structure and details remains unaltered since built.[20]
The churchyard includes a stone memorial to Tiddles, the church cat who fell off the church roof. There is also a stone grotesque to commemorate a young boy who climbed up the walls of the church and jumped, falling to his death. The churchyard contains eightCommonwealth war graves; three British Army soldiers, aRoyal Navy seaman and aRoyal Air Force airman ofWorld War I and two British soldiers and aHome Guardsman ofWorld War II.[21]
St. Mary's is of national historical and architectural importance because it houses the most complete set of mediaevalstained glass windows in the country,[22] attributed toBarnard Flower. The glass survived theReformation when many images in English churches were destroyed. In 1642, during theCivil War, they narrowly avoided destruction[23] when theRoundhead army was marching on the nearby town ofCirencester.
Some of the panes were damaged during a storm in November 1703 and those were repaired and modified or replaced. A conservation and restoration programme began in 1988 and finished in 2010. Clear glass now protects the old glass.[24]
Fairford has a 19th-centuryCatholic church ofSt Thomas of Canterbury. Following the closure of therecusant chapel atHatherop Castle in 1844, a church was built at Horcott the following year at a cost of £700. The first Mass was celebrated in 1845, five years before the Restoration of the Hierarchy in England and before the creation of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Clifton. The stained glass window behind the altar depictsSt. Thomas of Canterbury in the centre panel, showing the date 1845. The adjoiningPresbytery was built 20 years later to designs byBenjamin Bucknall,[27] the architect ofWoodchester Mansion. The church contains an organ by Hill and stained glass byWilliam Wailes,Hardman and Geoffrey Robinson. The two windows in the porch were added to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first Mass. The left window depicts the crest of thede Mauley family; that on the right depicts theEucharist.
In 1981 a group of local Methodists approached the local Congregational Church to use the chapel for their services as there was no Methodist Church in Fairford. They were officially united into one congregation in 1986 and the present church follows the traditions of both the Methodist Church and the Congregational Federation.
The churches in and around Fairford are represented by the organisation Churches Together Around Fairford (CTAF) which has meetings and organises services of unity.
Fairford was part of the Cirencester Rural District until theLocal Government Act 1972, when it became part of theCotswold District.[5]
Fairford is in acivil parish and has a Town Council with 13 members. The mayor is James Nicholls.
After a boundary review implemented for the 2015 local elections, Fairford was split into two District Councilelectoral wards called Fairford North Ward (single member) and Lechlade,Kempsford and Fairford South Ward (two member). On Cotswold District Council Fairford North Ward is represented by Liberal Democrat Andrew Doherty and Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South Ward is as of May 2023 represented by Liberal Democrats Councillors Clare Muir and Helene Mansilla.
As of 2021, the town is represented onGloucestershire County Council by Conservative Councillor Dom Morris who represents the Fairford and Lechlade on Thames Division.
The ward population at the2011 census was 4,031.[28]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Vann | 406 | 51.5 | −17.7 | |
| Conservative | Tom Dutton | 316 | 40.1 | +9.8 | |
| Heritage | James Nicholls | 67 | 8.5 | N/A | |
| Majority | 90 | 11.4 | |||
| Turnout | 789 | ||||
| Liberal Democratshold | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Clare Muir | 1,150 | 56.5 | +26.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Helene Mansilla | 976 | 48.0 | N/A | |
| Conservative | Stephen Andrews* | 785 | 38.6 | −13.4 | |
| Conservative | Steve Trotter* | 776 | 38.2 | −13.6 | |
| Labour | Esme Barlow Hall | 131 | 6.4 | N/A | |
| Labour | Trevor Smith | 114 | 5.6 | −9.1 | |
| Majority | 191 | ||||
| Turnout | 2034 | 9.4 | |||
| Liberal Democratsgain fromConservative | |||||
| Liberal Democratsgain fromConservative | |||||
Fairford North Ward
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Andrew Doherty | 610 | 68.1 | +40.2 | |
| Conservative | Dominic Morris | 270 | 30.1 | −20.9 | |
| Green | Xanthe Messenger | 15 | 1.8 | +1.8 | |
| Majority | 270 | 38.0 | |||
| Turnout | 897 | 46.57 | |||
| Liberal Democratsgain fromConservative | Swing | 30.6% | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Dom Morris | 2,326 | 59 | +4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Tony Dale | 1,344 | 34 | +2 | |
| Labour | Sharon Aldrick | 261 | 7 | +1 | |
| Majority | 982 | 25 | +2 | ||
| Turnout | 3,931 | 45.20 | +5.40 | ||
| Conservativehold | Swing | ||||
For three days every yearRAF Fairford hosts one of the world's largest military air shows – theRoyal International Air Tattoo. The event usually takes place in July and brings a boost to the economy of the town and surrounding areas.[citation needed]
The Fairford, Faringdon, Filkins and Burford Championship and Country Show held every year since 1948.[29]
TheErnest Cook Trust used to host the annual Fairford Steam Rally and Show. The Show closed in 2015 after running for 46 years.[30]
The town's secondary school isFarmor's School, an 11-18 co-educational academy. The school was judged to be of outstanding standard, having achieved Grade 1 in itsOfsted inspection in 2010.[31] After becoming an academy it achieved lower grades from the board over the years: "Good", "Requires Improvement" and "Good" again in 2013, 2017 and 2021 respectively.[32]
There is also a primary school (Fairford Primary),[33] and a playgroup. Coln House School was a 9-16, residential/day, state special school. After being put into special measures following a 2016 Ofsted report, the school closed in March 2017.[34] The building was originally built in 1822 by Alexander Iles as a private asylum called 'The Retreat', which closed in 1944 before becoming a school in 1949.[35]
Local news and television programmes is provided byBBC South andITV Meridian. Television signals are received from theOxford TV transmitter.[36]
The town is served by bothBBC Radio Wiltshire andBBC Radio Gloucestershire. Other radio stations includingHeart West,Greatest Hits Radio South West, Cotswolds Radio, community based radio station[37] and Air Tattoo Live, aRSL station which broadcast coverage during the Royal International Air Tattoo.
Fairford is served by the weekly local newspaper, Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard.[38]
Fairford has anon-league football teamFairford Town F.C. who play and train at Cinder Lane. Fairford have their own rugby team FRFC, playing in green and black strip. Fairford also has a women's netball team, competing in the nearby Swindon league. The town also has the Walnut Tree Field: a large playing field and park, a cricket club (dating back to the early 1900s),[5] a bowling, sailing and water skiing club.[39][40][41] Fairford had a leisure centre until 2019 which had been managed by Farmor's School since 2013.[42]
Fairford also has a youth football club, based at Horcott Road which caters for children between the ages of 5 and 15 years old. The club, established in 1976, is a FA Chartered Club, run by volunteers for the benefit of local children from Fairford and surrounding villages. Teams from U8 and above play in the North Wiltshire Youth Football Leagues.
Fairford was formerly linked to Oxford by theWitney Railway and its extension theEast Gloucestershire Railway. The route was active between 1873 and 1962.[5] There have been reports that part of the old track could be cleared of accumulated mountains of detritus and overgrown trees to be re-opened as a cycle path.[citation needed]
There is a bus service to Cirencester and Lechlade, from where travellers can transfer to another bus and travel onwards to Swindon.
The Secret Diary of Sarah Thomas, 1860 – 1865, is a published journal byVictoriandiarist, Sarah Thomas who lived in Fairford. It features local landmarks.[43]
Fairford has been used as a filming location inGreenfingers (2000),The Power and an episode in series two ofThis Country.
In the first series of the reality TV seriesThe Restaurant, one pair of contestants opened their restaurant in Fairford.[44]
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| National | |
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